| Maxine Hong Kingston is an influential Chinese American writer. As a second-generation Chinese American, Kingston concentrates on depicting Chinese Americans’ experience in America. Tripmaster Monkey is one of her major works, which has enjoyed a great reputation in Chinese American literature since its publication. The protagonist Wittman and other Chinese Americans in the novel were born and grow up in America, but they are faced with identity crisis. They are not only stereotyped by the American mainstream society, but also alienated by the Chinese American community. Therefore, Tripmaster Monkey tries to transcend the boundaries of race, culture and gender to solve Chinese Americans’ identity crisis.The basic theory of this thesis is Homi Bhabha’s theory of the Third Space, which is an important postcolonial theory. The Third Space breaks binary oppositions of West vs. East, Self vs. Other and Man vs. Woman, constructs a hybrid, interstitial and negotiating space, as well as provides a new perspective for identity construction.The efforts to solve Chinese Americans’ identity crisis in Tripmaster Monkey correspond with Bhabha’s theory of the Third Space. This thesis analyzes the identity crisis of Chinese Americans and studies the construction of the Third Space in Tripmaster Monkey from the perspective of Bhabha’s theory of Third Space.This thesis contains four chapters. Chapter One briefly introduces Maxine Hong Kingston, Tripmaster Monkey, the postcolonialism, Homi Bhabha’s theory of the Third Space and the history of the Chinese immigration. Chapter Two focuses on Wittman’s and the Chinese American community’s identity crisis. Chapter Three explores the efforts to construct the Third Space in Tripmaster Monkey, which are mainly embodied in three aspects: the reconstruction of Wittman’s identity, the marriage between Wittman and Tana, and the Pear Garden in the West. Chapter Four, as a conclusion, summarizes this thesis briefly. |
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